“At the end of the day supporters will be disappointed but we’re not a big budget team.

“We’ve been punching above our weight, we’ve always had good players and other teams are recognising that and trying to prise them away by offering deals we can’t compete with. We’ve got to cut our cloth accordingly.”

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Maxwell has been able so far to retain the services of Willie Sawyers, Gary Carroll, Daniel Boyle, Mikey Morris, Scott Walker, Joe Slattery, Gavin Mackie and Lee Gallacher and has new signings in the pipeline.

He said: “Marquee players will go and it’s my job to try and bring the next raft of players in and hopefully they can step up to the mark with the bit of quality we have managed to keep.”